Hong Kong’s High Court on Friday convicted Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung, former leaders of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, of inciting subversion of state power.
The two were convicted under Hong Kong’s National Security Law, which was imposed in 2020 following months of pro-democracy protests. The offence carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The court said the defendants’ repeated use of the slogan “end one-party dictatorship”, rather than violent actions, constituted a breach of the security law. The three national security judges said their activities were intended to undermine confidence in China’s Communist Party and challenge the political system.
Tiananmen Commemorations Ended After Security Law
Lee, 69, and Chow, 41, were former chair and vice-chair of the Hong Kong Alliance, which for decades organised annual public vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing.
The vigils had been permitted in Hong Kong for years and were widely viewed as a symbol of the city’s greater political freedoms compared with mainland China. The Alliance disbanded after the National Security Law came into force in 2020.
Former Alliance chairman Albert Ho, 74, who also previously chaired Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, pleaded guilty to the same charge.
Lee and Ho have remained in detention since 2021, while sentencing and mitigation hearings are scheduled to begin later this month. The convictions mark another major case brought under Hong Kong’s national security framework against figures associated with the city’s former pro-democracy movement.